When you just can´t be without technology but still want to travel, that´s the general thought behind this travel bag which holds allot of gadgets that you can´t live without.

Headphones

ATH-M50x

The bag houses a total of three different headphones that I use for different scenarios and under certain circumstances.

The biggest of them all are my ATH-M50x which feature an over-ear design with great sound isolation, a detachable cable and the ability to fold them up so they fit comfortably inside their leather pouch. They deliver a rich and balanced sound with a nice emphasis on bass, which makes them one of the best headphones for under 150$. The build quality is top notch so they aren´t any parts that will break on you after a few months of use. They pretty much check all the boxes for a portable and comfortable high quality audio device so you can´t really go wrong with these.

Jaybird Blue Buds x

The only thing the M50´s cant deliver is the convenients of bluetooth, thats where my second pair of headphones come into play. The Jaybird Blue Buds x are a pair of wireless
in-ear earbuds with great comfort and sound, their 8 hours of battery life is good enough so you don´t have to worry about charging it every other day. They pair super easily with my Nexus 6P and also have an included microphone to take phone calls and use voice commands.

The included wings help holding the earphones in place so you can be as active as you want while still listening to your favorite music, the included hardshell case is also really great for traveling because you don´t have to worry about them getting squished in your bag.

Sure they are three years old but that doesn’t mean they cant be as good as the newer X2 form Jaybird.

RHA 500

Just in case my Jabird´s run out of battery and i dont feel like using big over-ear headphones I bought some decent sounding earbuds from RHA, the best thing about theses is the build quality, they feature a compact aluminium construction with a stealthy braided cable and a gold plated connector. The only thing missing is a mic and a remote control but that´s not that a deal breaker for me.

The RHA 500´s deliver deliver some nice immersive sound with just enough bass, sure my Jaybirds will sound allot better but with these you will get a reliable headphone an a very reasonable price of 30-40 $.

Pixel C

My android tablet of choice is the Pixel C because it already had all the benefits of the new Pixel phones from Google 1 year ago (including the price). The Pixel features an all aluminium body that rivals the build quality of apples iPads which give it an durable and sustainable feel in the hand. Its 10.2-inch screen looks super sharp with some nice colors and good visibility in direkt sunlight, the two side firing speakers are loud enough for media consumption but they start distorting at around 90% volume. The backside is kept very simple without any branding or additional sensors around the camera, which is good for a tablet but wont win any awards for breathtaking pictures. Solely a led light strip adorns the backside by lighting up in the Google colors when the tablet is turned on or indicating the battery percentage when you knock on the backside, this is a gimmicky but unique and well implemented feature that I very much enjoy having.

Being a Google build device security and software updates aren´t an issue, my Pixel C runs android 7.0 Nougat without any hickups or crashes.I dont use this tablet for any productivity task because it can only run android apps instead of fully fledged programs that you get on a Windows/MacOS computer, but if you are ok with using the app versions of Microsoft Office you have the option of purchasing a magnetic keyboard with inductive charging capabilities but no trackpad. In conclusion this tablet is great for reading browsing the web and your occasional Youtube video.

Cases

We live in a time where smartphones are getting thinner and slipperier every year, to prevent them from suffering a fatal drop we buy bulky cases that completely alter the original intended design and feel in the hand, that´s why Im not really a big fan of cases for smartphones but I get why they are necessary so I tried to find some cases that offer decent protection but still manage to be attractive.

The Spigen SGP11814 is a very thin lightweight hard case with a minimalistic design and all the necessary cutouts, it features a soft touch finish that feels sturdy and adds a ton of grip to your devices, unfortunately fingerprints show easily but can be removed with a microfiber cloth.

The second one is a aluminium bumper that wraps around the phone nicely and closes with a hinge at the top of the devices, it has a nice sturdy feel to it but due to the nature of aluminium it conflicts with the signals of the phone because it is covering the reception cutouts so you will experience some connection issues when using this bumper.

Rome

The new Macbook Pro dropped a few weeks ago as the first installments of the fourth generation of Macbook Pro´s. We are going to take an in depth look at Apple´s shiny new devices.

Design

The first thing that comes to mind when you hear about an updated Apple product isn´t normally an updated design, the Pro lineup never really changed that much over the past few years, this isn´t necessary a bad thing but the once so futuristic looking Laptop has grown old, so Apple went out and gave their flagship a new look including a very sexy space grey color.

New rectangular edges give it a more modern look while still keeping the typical rounded footprint. Something that comes with almost every apple press event is the phrase “thinner and lighter”, this product is no exception the 13-inch model comes in at 1.36 kilograms and 14.9 mm thickness while the 15-inch model weights just about 1.8 kilograms and 15.5 mm thickness.

Ports

This self-imposed rule of thinner and lighter is pushing new technologies while still trying to improve the performance which is, in my opinion, a very noble course to take. But like the Iphone 7 taught us, new dimensions and ports don´t come without sacrifices. By trying to push USB C as the new standard Apple has dropped the HDMI port the very convenient MagSafe port, as well as the SD card slot and the regular USB A port. This will be a pretty big hit for allot of people considering the commonness of USB devices and SD-cards, luckily many manufactures already have products to fix this issue, including Microsoft with their Display dock for the Lumina 950. But the USB C revolution also has it´s benefits these Thunderbolt 3 ports are capable of 40 GBps wich is double the bandwith of Thunderbolt 2, this allows the Macbook to power up to two 5K Displays at once which are an insane amount of pixels. Oh and they are reversible which is nice.

The Touch Bar

The next big thing is here.

Keyboards on laptops have the same basic layout since forever with the function keys being on top, but this new OLED Touchbar shakes things up by integrating the function keys and adding a ton of versatility, you are now able to get different quick toggles right on your keyboard depending on the program you are currently using. Most people will probably use it as a fancy new way to skip to the next song but heavy Final Cut Pro users will appreciate the added functionality. Integrated in the Touchbar is a fingerprint reader that works in the same way as Apple ID, you will be able to unlock your Mac and use Apple Pay to make purchases online. Overall I think the Touchbar is a good move by apple and with even more integration in Mac OS it will be a standard in future Laptops, the only thing that holds it back is the horrendous prize, the Touchbar on the 13 inch model will set you back 300 dollars.

Trackpad and Keyboard

The new Macbook trackpad is up to 2x times larger than in the previous generation, this wont be as visually appealing but with it being a force touch trackpad you can really make use of the touch gestures of Mac OS and still get a tactile left click on the whole surface, and not just at the bottom.

They also included their second gen butterfly keys which are supposed to have a better tactile feedback and sound.

Screen

The new screens have a resolution of 2560 x 1600 which relate to a ppi of 227, these screens are supposed to be the brightest Macbook screens to date, at 500 nits which is a welcome change because the older pro screens always felt a little dim in comparison to the IPhones. Apple claims that these screens now feature P3 color, which supposedly shows 25% more colors. This will be very nice for photo editors and also standard media consumption.

Conclusion

The 2016 Macbook pro is what you would expect from an Apple device, its offers great build quality, design and performance with the added functionality of an OLED Touchbar and a bigger trackpad. But there are also some drawbacks, being locked into the Apple ecosystem isn´t for everyone and you will also have to carry around some dongles and adapters to be able to use your older devices which doens´t sound very compelling. Also not everybody is willing to pay well over a thousand dollars for a laptop which is limited in its compatibility just because a company is trying to cut as many ports as possible.

In the end these Macbooks are as compelling as always but it is really difficult to justify the compromises Apple is making for a product that is targeted at professionals.